Elderly Ms. Zhou Fengxiu Dies under Long Term Persecution in Hunan Province

Ms. Zhou Fengxiu, 70, lived in Guanjiazui Town, Qidong County, Hunan Province. Her husband died from cancer 15 years ago. She became depressed and very sick and weak. After she started cultivating Falun Gong in 1998, her sicknesses and pain went away. She felt gratitude to Falun Gong for saving her. After the persecution began in 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong, and she was arrested and detained many times. Police officers brutally beat her and often broke into her home and took her Falun Gong books.

In December 1999, 32 practitioners from Qidong County went to the county government to appeal for Falun Gong. They told the officials of their personal experiences of how they had benefited from cultivation practice. They were all arrested and detained in the County Detention Centre. Guard Zhou Youzhong beat Ms. Zhou Fengxiu until she was covered with wounds and she passed out. She was carried back into the cell. She could not eat for two days after waking up, unable to hold a pair of chopsticks.

Ms. Zhou Fengxiu never felt fear facing the persecution. She believed in Falun Gong even more solidly. Her children worked out of town, and she was taking care of her two grandsons (one for her daughter, one for her son) and tending the fields. Fellow practitioners helped her with the farming during the busy seasons. She often carried her bamboo basket on her back, distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution to other towns and the countryside miles away, especially when it was not during the busy farming season.

On March 24th, 2005, Ms. Zhou was passing out Falun Gong leaflets in a nearby town market when the police arrested her, took her bamboo basket of materials, and detained her in the County Detention Centre. After being released from detention, she went to the local police station to appeal in an open and dignified manner and asked for her basket back.

The officers thought it was inconceivable for an elderly rural woman to uphold Falun Gong so firmly, for she looked so ordinary! They asked Ms. Zhou, "What benefits has Falun Gong given to you?" Ms. Zhou told them frankly, "Falun Gong taught me to cultivate according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It taught me to live a virtuous life, do good deeds, and not do bad deeds. There is no harm to anyone in practising Falun Gong. Why do you not want me practise? I became healthy and free of pain. My husband died of cancer, and he did not have the money to be treated; the government never cared for us." The officers were all speechless.

Ms. Zhou's house is located right by the public road. Police officers often drove by to harass her and take away her Falun Gong books. Before the Beijing Olympics, the police came several times late at night, banging on her door, and ransacked her home. On the afternoon of October 28th, 2008, five officers from the Guanjiazui Town Police Station stormed into her home again and took her Falun Gong books, despite her protests. Deeply hurt by the police actions, Ms. Zhou was sick for several months. Her condition worsened quickly, and she died a little over twenty days later.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/12/24/192132.html